This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com

Metal stubs could send you on nasty trip: Fixer

Now that snow cover's gone we see more hazards that could make pedestrians stumble disastrously.

The metal stub sticking out of the boulevard on Bloor St. W. next to the Islington subway station is among several metal stumps which appear to have sprouted this spring. (Leslie Ferenc / Toronto Star) | Order this photo

Head over heels is how unsuspecting pedestrians could wind up walking along some Toronto streets and it has nothing to do with falling in love.

It has everything to do with tripping over the bits and pieces of jagged, often rusted metal stubs that have sprouted around the city like spring flowers and among the concerns being reported by readers now that the snow has melted — hopefully for good — revealing what’s been hiding beneath it. This isn’t the first time The Fixer has written about this problem.

There’s a nasty one on the island on Bloor St. W., parallel to the subway station and just west of Islington Ave., in Etobicoke which Carlos Coimbra reported in an email to The Fixer.

“It's no longer covered with snow, but at night it's not really visible, and if hidden in snow, and someone is crossing (jaywalking) the street there, they can trip (and) they can fall right into the path of a passing car,” he wrote.

Then there’s a rusty stub of metal which appears to be an old pole jutting out of the ground on Old Mill Rd. and Old Mill Trail. The Fixer wrote about this menace to walkers last May but it’s still there and a potential hazard.

Article Continued Below

A reader on SeeClickFix reported another toe tripper on Bathurst St., between Harbord and Lennox that could easily rip a nail off a toe for any one wearing sandals or peek-a-boo toe stiletto heels. The real possibility of tripping and falling face-first on the sidewalk — heels over head — is simply too horrible to think about.

These hazards need to be dug up and removed or chopped off at ground level and the holes filled in to make them safe.

STATUS: We’ve left a message for Steve Johnston who handles media enquiries for the city’s transportation services department to give us an update on the trip hazards and when they will be repaired.

More from the Toronto Star & Partners

LOADING

Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or distribution of this content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. To order copies of Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com